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New Zealand Police v Mills [2020] NZDC 14557

Published 06 October 2021

Judge-alone trial — money-laundering — fraud — bank accounts — recklessness — dealing with property — Evidence Act 2006, s 30(6) — Crimes Act 1961, ss 243 & 343 — Peters v R [2020] NZCA 120 — Jones v R [2016] NZCA 185. The defendant was charged with having engaged in a money-laundering transaction. The complainant in the matter had had trouble accessing her online bank account; when she was later able to do so, she noticed that $2400 had been transferred into the account and then $3534.23 had been transferred out. The offending was then traced to the defendant, who claimed that and associate of his had committed several money transfers using the defendant's bankcard. In spite of shortcomings in the investigation process by the officer in charge of the case, the Court found that the sum of $3534.23 had been transferred out of the complainant's account into the defendant's and that the defendant had been reckless in allowing another person to access his bank account. The Court therefore found the charge of money laundering proved and found the defendant guilty. Judgment date: 20 July 2020.